The aim of this paper is to determine whether processes operating in the past in badland areas of southern Africa were different from the present, by comparing contemporary badland processes operating in southern Africa with evidence found
in Quaternary sedimentary successions in badland areas.
This paper outlines the geological characteristics of the area, the bioclimatic conditions, badlands evolution and the infiltrability of the Neogene marl regoliths, as well as correlations between rainfall, overland flow and soil erosion. Piping
erosion is shown to be a basic process in the formation of badlands in many parts of the Mediterranean morphoclimatic domain of South-East Spain.
The estimation of boundary variability for digitized polygon maps of a 0.34 km2 area of badlands in Dinosaur Provincial Park, Alberta, shows the effects of positional errors introduced during mapping and digitizing processes.